Brees, Schottenheimer have words after QB pulled in loss to Pittsburgh

PITTSBURGH -- On a cold day at Heinz Field, there was plenty of
fire along the Chargers' sideline.

The Chargers were on their way to another loss, this one a 40-24
shellacking before a teeth-chattering crowd of 52,527. But before
the Steel Curtain fell on the Chargers, Drew Brees and Marty
Schottenheimer got into a heated exchange after the quarterback was
benched with four minutes to play, following his third
turnover.

"He just asked me why I pulled him out of the game,"
Schottenheimer said.

Brees had already lost a fumble and thrown an interception when
a referee interfered with LaDainian Tomlinson's short middle route.
In the confusion, the pass ricocheted off Tomlinson's right
shoulder pad and into the hands of Deshea Townsend, who returned it
for a touchdown.

At that point, Schottenheimer's patience was lower than the
thermometer, and he signaled for backup Doug Flutie.

"If you are going to play for Marty Schottenheimer, you can't
turn the ball over, and if you turn the ball over you are going to
lose," Schottenheimer said after his squad slipped to 3-12.

"We had a dialogue about it, and I just made sure he understood
that the reason I made the change was that if you want to play
quarterback for a team that I coach, you can not turn the football
over."

For Brees, it was another pothole on his road to regain
Schottenheimer's -- and the organization's -- confidence. After
sitting out five games, he returned last week, when his three
turnovers overshadowed a career-high 363 passing yards.

"The point I've made very clear to him, and I made very clear to
you: You will not play quarterback or any other position that
possesses the ball for me," Schottenheimer said. "You have to take
care of the ball because it's the difference between winning games
in this league."

Brees knows it. And he knows that if he keeps losing the ball,
he'll lose his starting job. It won't happen in Sunday's season
finale against the Raiders, but there are no guarantees after
that.

"I understand you can't turn the ball over in this league;
you're not going to win if you do that, and today I had three
turnovers," said Brees, who's thrown for 10 touchdowns and 15
interceptions. "I think it was just unfortunate, that interception,
the one before I got pulled, the circumstances that kind of caused
that interception. That's just kind of bad luck, but I understand
that was my third turnover on the day, and that's how it goes down
in the book. And obviously, yeah, I was upset I got pulled."

Although it appeared otherwise, the veteran Schottenheimer said
Brees did not disrespect him.

"No, believe me, I've had far worse debates than that,"
Schottenheimer said. "He didn't even raise his voice. That is a
non-issue."

What is an issue is the Chargers' knack for falling behind
early.

"It was 21-0 before we blinked our eyes," said Donnie Edwards,
who paced the Chargers with 13 tackles. "We were flat on
defense."